


I Can Give it All On the First Day

by Finn565



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Aged up characters, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Probably senior year of high school, Smut, flustered Tom am i right?, sort of slow burn, star and tom are friends, takes place years after frienemies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-23 07:34:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8319319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finn565/pseuds/Finn565
Summary: I just wanted to write some slow burn of these two cus there's really not enough. I need to find a new title if any one wants to suggest some.





	1. Chapter 1

He was nervous, why was he so nervous. He was never this nervous, ever. Maybe it was his frail mental state. His ability to explode into a fit of frustration and rage within a matter of seconds. He’d done it so many times before, everything going well and then one little thing would cause him to grow enraged. Or maybe it was the fact that it was Marco. Someone who had always been hard to try and be friends with. So much bad blood spilled already.

Star had been hard enough and he’d always figured that Marco was a forgiving type but it didn’t seem to be the case. Years - yes, years- of time hanging around Star and Marco and yet the human boy seemed to hate him still.

But tonight. Tonight Star had elected not to go, and Marco had said he would hang out with Tom alone. Progress right? Who knew with Marco. Though something’s had been his fault. He hadn’t been the greatest friend. Mainly that day he’d tried to get a ribbon for anger management and ruined everything by trapping Marco.

But tonight would be different. He was different. Right? He’d calmed down and he’d managed his problems. Hopefully Marco would see that.

Tom knocked on the front door, he’d learned the hard was that humans weren’t too fond of demons teleporting in front of them out of nowhere.

“Tom!” Marco’s mother answered the door, a smile spreading across her features.

He returned the smile and took a small bow, “Ah, Mrs. Diaz. Its nice to see you.” She let him in. He’d gotten to know Marco’s parents well, they were nice and inviting people. Never turning him away and very understanding. They never asked about who he was or why he looked like he did. “Marco is in his room?”

“Oh, you are here for Marco? I would have thought you were here to see Star!”

He smiled and shook his head slightly, “No no, Marco is my friend as well and tonight it's just me and him.”

She nodded and pointed up the stairs, “I see. Well, you know the way, Tom?”

“Yes, thank you, Mrs. Diaz.” He nods as he travels up the stairs. Marco’s door was open as always. Star’s was closed, Tom guessed she had already left the home and was out and about. He taps lightly on the door frame before letting himself in.

“Oh hey, close the door.” Marco looked up at him. He followed the directions and let the door slide and click closed behind him.

“What would you like to do?”

Marco gives him a bored look, “well, i was thinking we could just sit here and maybe watch some movies?” Marco’s eyes then lit up slightly “I’ll get us some nachos.”

Tom’s first instinct was that they should go out. It was easy to “get along” when you were doing other things. Harder when you were just two people at home. But he was desperate to make Marco into a friend. It would be less stressful and awkward. Darn it if Marco didn’t seem excited to make those nachos and just sit. The things he would do.    

“Sounds good.” He smiled, anything to get Marco on his side.

“Cool, I'm gonna put something in and go make the food. Just hang out here.” Marco pats his bed and gets up himself.

Tom sits on the edge and begins to take his large boots off so he can cross his legs. Marco kneels down to a collection of cheesy movies before picking one out. “ I think you might like this one.”

Tom smiles slightly, he tries not to look to deep into things but the fact that Marco was even thinking about what they should do and possibly thinking about the kind of movies Tom might like, makes him think that Marco wants to fix things as well. “What is it?”

“Pacific Rim,” Marco’s smile is genuine, good. That means he's doing it right. Or Tom is overthinking again and he should shut off before he ruins it. Just act natural. “It's got big crazy monsters in it and people in giant robots. I'm going to go make the food. Don’t start without me!”

The human leaves and Tom is stuck watching previews for this strange movie. Strange being alone in Marco’s room without Star here. He tries to be rid of the thought. He came here to mend things with Marco. He's already friends with Star so it's time to move on. Since Star likes to hang out with Marco, he's going to have to too.

The human returns with a big bowl, chips with assorted cheeses and meats, along with olives, sour cream, and some sort of green mix of foods. Marco takes a seat next to him. “Here we go.”

Marco presses play and the movie starts. It's a bit dramatic for Tom’s taste, its easy to figue out the plot. Everyone you assume to die does. He's sure Marco can tell. The human boy smiles to him, “you know it's supposed to be like that?”

“What do you mean?” Tom raises an eyebrow.

“Its supposed to be cliché like this.”

“It is?” He gives a sigh look.

Marco laughs, “yah, dude. Its supposed to be like an old time monster beat them up.”

“What about this mind thing?” He grimaces, “It's out of place.”

“It's so they can add an element of romance.”

“I suppose but don’t you think it's a little cheesy?”

“Oh yah, but that's why I like it.”

Tom feels more confused than ever. At the end of the movie he finds he likes it. The ending was unexpected. Usually with cliché movies like these the guy and the girl get together because he saves her. In this one they seemed to remain friends.

“Well how was it?” The bowl of chips are gone and set to the side. Marco lays back on his bed.

“I like the ending. And the action sequences weren’t as bad as I thought they were going to be.”

“I really like the kiju they look awesome.” Marco nods as if agreeing with himself.

“The concept of the drift is interesting.” This felt right. Marco was talking to him like friends talked.

“I feel like I’d be drift compatible with Star.”

He tilts his head slightly, “Do you...have feelings for Star?”

Marco’s eyebrows shoot up, “No no no! We are just good friends, I meant like, we already fight together pretty well. I just think we are on the same wavelength you know?”

“I can understand that.” Tom nods, offering a small smile.

Marco offers the smile back, “Hey, do you like video games?”

“I have heard of them.”

“Looks like I’m about to show you something amazing.”

Tom finds he enjoys playing against and with Marco. Either way they end up laughing and he feels like it's going extremely well. He’d call this a success. Marco threw up his controller as Tom won a round of skirmishing.

“How in the world did you even know where I was. I thought I had you!”

Tom grins and winks his third eye closed, “Oh, I’m not sure, Marco.” His voice sounds sarcastic.

Marco laughs, “So you cheated?”

“No no no. It's not cheating when you were born with them.”

The human scrunched up his face “Who made up that?”

“Me, just now.” Tom grins, good things are starting to feel natural. But of course, no of course, his mind doesn’t work like normal peoples do.

Tom would love to blame Marco for this once. But it's really just not his fault so he can’t this time around. Though, it _is_ something Marco does that ruins it all for him. Marco laughs at his joke. Innocent enough, yeah?

It sounds nothing like Stars, he likes it. Even though it has no real feeling to it, it feels warm. Tom finds his grin turning into a smile. He feels warm, well technically he always feels that way but this was different.

He sat rigid in his spot, all three eyes wide open. The smile fell from his face.

Marco raises an eyebrow at him, “Hey, man. You alright?” His heart was racing. He felt along his chest lightly. His breathing was heavy. He was having a panic attack. “Tom?”

“I have to go.” He’d never put boots on so fast.

“Are you sure?”

“Y-yes.” He needed an excuse to leave, “Urgent things I forgot to take care of before coming over!”

“Oh, I'll see you later?”

“Yes! We can get together and just hang out like friends do!” He nodded

“Okay?” Marco was giving him a skeptical look.

“Goodbye, Marco.” shit. That had sounded far to fond. He snapped his fingers and was comforted by his own room. He quickly shut the doors and pressed his back to them. His breathing was out of control.

Tom started taking deep breaths. “Okay okay okay.” He said to the empty room. “Okay. No big deal.”

Wrong. Big deal. It had hit him like a brick to the face. He’d felt like that with Star but he’d never ever thought he would feel like that ever again. Even if he was going to, why would he pick Star’s best friend.

Tom sunk to the floor, covering his face and groaning. “I’m an idiot.”

Everything had been going so well. He was finally pushing past all the resentment and having fun. How could he.

No. He looked up, frowning slightly. He could work past this. No problem, Brian had told him how to control his emotions and he could defiantly control this one. He wasn’t going to let a couple feelings change anything. And next time they hung out, he was going to act natural and calm.

Cool and collected.

***

Star had invited him out to go have lunch with her and Marco. Tom had hesitated at first but he took a deep breath and accepted. He simply snapped his fingers and transported to them.

Marco jumped but Star only smiled, “Hey, Tom!”

“Oh, was I interrupting something?” They seemed to have been talking, he hoped he wasn’t being rude. Then again, Star had invited him. She should have expected that he would show up.

“Not at all!” She ushered them both out, “I'm starving let's go!” She was such a nice presence. He felt more relaxed that she was there.

“Hey man, you okay? You just took off last week.” Marco gave him a questioning look. Okay, feeling less relaxed and safe.

“Yes, I'm fine.” He knew his own voice didn’t sound sincere.

Marco gave him a skeptical look and it seemed the topic had been dropped.

“Alright! Who's got money?”

“Star,” the human turns to her and turns the skeptical look towards the Mewni. “I thought you were paying!”

“I offered to go to lunch,” She gave a dramatic sigh, “not that I would pay for it.”

Before he could stop himself he was already saying the words, “I’ll pay, my treat.” It's not that he didn’t have money. Oh no. Being a prince had some perks. It just sounded so desperate. Even he could tell Star had noticed.

If Marco noticed he didn’t say anything, “Really?”

“Yes, it will be no problem!” He nodded.

“Wow,” Marco gave a small smile and he felt that unusual warmness again. “That's really sweet of you, Tom.”

He couldn’t help but return the smile. Star seemed to be looking back and forth between them but he elected to ignore her. “Well, where too?”

“Marco!” Star grabbed her friend's arm. “I want to talk to Tom. Why don’t you find a place to eat?”

“Sure.” Marco shrugged and walked off without them.

Star turned towards him, “Hey so, you are acting like a weirdo. And not your normal weirdo-ness. Like, waaaaaaay different.”

“I knew it.” He sighs, “Listen, can we not talk about this. I’m still working things out.” That was far too much to ask from Star Butterfly.

“No way, Tom. Tell me what's up. That's what friends do. Are you having anger issues again? Cause I can call-”

“No no no.” he waved his hands. “I just-” How could he put this in a way that wouldn’t cause Star to freak out. “I may have feelings for someone new.” She let out a scream and Tom covered his ears as they flattened down. “Star!”

“Who who who who who!? O. M. G. You have to tell me right now, immediately.” She grabbed both of his shoulders and he kindly brushed her hands away.

“Why? They don't like me anyways. I don’t even mean feelings wise, Star. I mean at all. He's not even interested in really being friends.” Her smile grows wider and wider, it takes him a second to recognize his mistake. “No. I didn’t say that.”

“But you did!” She lowers her voice. “Is it Marco?”

Tom just gives her a helpless look and she squeals. “I LOVE IT.” back to a whisper, “you two should toooootally date.”

“Didn’t you hear anything I said? Marco doesn’t like me.”

She rolls her eyes, “Yes he does. He had a great time the other night.”

“H-he did?” He feels himself slowly smile.

“Oh my god, Tom. You’ve got it bad, boy.”

“You can’t tell him.” He points one of his black nails at her.

“Oh, of course. But you have to.”

“No I don’t. Star, I mess everything up. Everything.”

“Nuh-uh! Look at this, we are friends now. So you didn’t mess that up!” He grimaced. She was right but he couldn’t help feeling like this was different. “Just give it a try. Where's that confident Tom?”

He gave her a smile, “Fine. But I blame you if it goes wrong.”

“That's fine!” She smiles.

“Hey, I found a burger place. You two coming?” Marco points his thumb back at a little building.

“Yep! On our way!” She skips off and Tom takes a deep breath.  Just be confident. He used to be one of the most confident people he knew. Yet, it was always connected to his anger. He can do this, though, just use all the bravado without the frustration…..This was going to be hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can give it all on the first day  
> I don't have to exist outside this place.   
> And dear I know that I can change


	2. Chapter 2

Tom’s mirror is ringing. He smiles lightly, expecting Star to be on the other side ready to spew off about something crazy she and Marco did. Instead he's greeted with just Marco. He can feel his heart rate pick up.

“Oh! Hello, Marco. Is there something you need?” He puts on his best smile.

“No?” Marco raises his eyebrow.

“Oh well you never call so I'm just a bit surprised.”

“I guess I don’t..” Marco looks away, “I just wanted to know if you wanted to maybe hang out?”

_NOT A CHANCE,_ His brain screams at him. Being alone with the human will only make him get worse. He wants to turn it down but another part of him wants to spend all his time around Marco. “What did you have in mind?” He settles on.

“Well, Star says I need new clothes but then says she's busy when I want to go out shopping so. I thought maybe you’d want to go?” Marco smiles and shrugs.

“Mind if I teleport?” He smiles back.

“Could you bring the carriage?”

“Of course.”

“Sweet.”

“I'll be outside your house in a matter of seconds.”

Marco nods and hangs up. Once the call is over he can’t help but feel giddy. Marco asked him to go shopping! Just him. Nervousness starts to settle in. He snaps his fingers before he can give this whole thing more thought.

The carriage rises up in flames to earth and he steps out of it. Marco is closing the front door as he does. He can’t help but think back to Star’s conversation with him. He should really have a talk with the human.

“Hey, man!” Marco smiles at him, Fuck. He’ll talk later with human, but god he loves that smile. “Ready to go?”

“Yes, come on in.” He puts on some of the confidence Star was talking about and gestures to the door. Marco raises an eyebrow and smiles before going in. “Onward” He tells the skeleton horse pulling the cart.

“Have any idea’s about what I’d look good in?”

_Just about anything, including no-_ “Red seems to be your color.” He brushes his thoughts away.

“It is? I just got this because I like red.” Marco shrugs and makes himself a bowl of cereal. Still familiar with Tom’s carriage.

“Perhaps some flannel?” Tom suggests, watching the human flop down into the chair.

“Yah, I can see myself wearing some flannel.” Marco slowly smiles, “Wanna put on some love sentence, buddy?”

Tom grins, “I’d thought you’d never ask.” He walks up to his stereo and turns it on. Marco sets his half eaten bowl aside and gets up. “This is one of my favorites!” He likes the way Marco could care less if he's dancing alone because Tom is there. And they both enjoy the band. And Tom is also dancing.

Marco leans into him, biting his bottom lip and concentrating on moving his hips. Their shoulders bump together and Tom can’t help but lean his shoulder in. This is a normal friend thing right? Dancing next to each other as if surrounded by people at a dirty all night club, like complete strangers. No, he's looking to deep into it.

The carriage stops and Tom’s almost sad that they can’t listen to more songs and just have a good time. Marco is already pushing the door open to leave so he can’t suggest it.

“I hope I can find something I like. Star’s ideas are usually weird but I think she's right on this one.”

“I can help.” Tom follows and locks the padlock with a wave of his fingers nonchalantly behind them. “I’ll tell you if it doesn’t look good?”

“That would be awesome, dude.” They walk into the mall, some faces turn towards him but only for a second. Marco looks towards him. “That doesn’t bother you?”

“The looks?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Yah, doesn’t it bother you that they stare?”

Tom grins, chuckling lowly, “No, Marco. I’m the prince of hell. If anyone wants to stare at me and they have a problem. I will take care of it.”

“Alright, right now you have to promise me there will be no flames and no fighting.”

Tom smiles and nods, “alright, I give you my word.”

“Thank you. C’mon.” Marco grabs his arm and tugs him into a store. His arm tingles where the human touches it. “Shit dude you are warm.” the hand is gone. “Bet you are awesome during winter. Like a heater.”

Tom’s mind provides him with several situations of them in the snow. Cuddling in Marco’s bed to keep warm. Other warming activities that he stops himself from thinking of because he's in public.

“Alright, how about this stuff?” Marco points to some articles of clothing and Tom unfolds it and holds it up.

“Mmm, well what's the harm in trying it on?”

“Yah, you’re right.” Marco starts piling up clothes on his arms, smiling as he picks things out. “I’m going to try these on. Will you wait outside and tell me what looks okay?”

Tom nods with a smile and watches Marco disappear into a changing room. When the human returns he's wearing a red tight t shirt that looks like it's made of soft material. Over the top he has a gray jacket that is unzipped.

“How does it look?”

He runs his eyes over Marco and nods slightly, “I think that one's a keeper. You could also wear a black button up over the shirt.”

“Want to pick one up for me?” Marco smiles as he looks at himself in a mirror.

For some reason that makes him giddy again. Tom had never really been part of human culture but he knew that boyfriends picked things they liked out for the person they were with. And Tom was aloud to pretend.

“What size are you?”

“Probably a medium.”

“Be right back.” Tom walks off, he picks out a couple things cause in reality he's ready to pay for all of it. Just another way he can demonstrate that he's a nice guy.

“Whoa, that's a lot of stuff.” Marco looks at his arms skeptically.

“Don’t worry, if you really want it I’ll pay for it.” Boom. Line delivered.

Marco’s eyes narrow slightly before he takes the clothing. Mistake. He shouldn’t have offered he's being too forward and he can tell Marco knows. Shit. “Thats nice of you?” Tom only nods.

“Whoa.” He hears faintly behind him. Both Marco and him turn to the voice. Two girls, long blonde hair and too much make up. Tom can see it caked up on their faces. “What are you?” they sound like valley girls.

“Excuse me?” He frowns.

“What are you? A freak?” One says and the other giggles.

He’s going to open his mouth but clothes are being shoved into his arms. “Hey!” Marco is marching off in their direction. “For your information that's my friend. And I bet he's a better person than either of you.”

They just giggle and give him a disgusted look. “What is he, your boyfriend?”

Tom expects Marco to blush and tell them no, cause he's blushing hard himself. “Yes.” Marco answers instead. “In fact he is, and I think you are both homophobic.”

They look at each other and back at them. Tom’s ears are ringing as if a bomb just went off. Marco has to take it just one step further. The human takes his hand, teeth gritted. Tom hopes it's in anger and not because of their touching hands. “Grab the clothes. I’m done with the mall and I want you to take me home.”

It takes Tom a moment for his brain to register what the human said and the hand in his. When he does he turns a deep shade. “Okay.” Marco and him grab the clothes and walk away. Once out of sight Marco pulls their hands away from each other.

“Sorry, I just hate stuff like that and I panicked. Hope I didn’t freak you out.” They start getting ringed up and Tom offers his card to the women behind the counter.

“You didn’t” They collect the bags and go to leave. “But I need to have a conversation with you..”

Marco gives him a worried look as he flicks his hand to unlock the carriage. “O-okay.”

“Marco’s house.” He nods to the skeleton horse and shuts the door. “Please sit next to me on the couch.” This is easy, just be brave. He used to do it all the time. Used to speak his mind whenever he felt like it. The human sets his bags down on the ground.

Marco takes a seat and Tom does on the other side. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, it's something concerning us.” Tom takes a deep breath. How does he even approach this. “Marco, I have feelings for you.” He rushes through the words and almost closes his eyes.

Marco sits there for a second, jaw dropped and eyebrows raised. “Dude,” a pause. “We hung out like once.”

“I know.” He shakes his head. “Let me explain to you how my brain works.” Tom leans forward and sets his elbows on his knees. He can only cover two of his eyes, the other stares at the ground. “No one has ever been so kind to me. Star did once and look how that ended. We might be friends but.” He takes a deep breath, “What I mean by that is I get attached to people who show me kindness and then I ruin it. I’m sorry.”

There's a small pause but instead of frustration from Marco Tom feels a hand rub at his back. “Understandable. People usually do that: get attached to people who treat them nice. But I gotta say, I just don’t think of you like that.”

His third eye looks briefly at Marco and then returns to the floor. The words are echoing in his mind. Over and over. _I just don’t think of you like that_. Normally (in Stars case) Tom would lose it and his anger would take over. But this time he just felt disappointed.  Marco didn’t like him.

He let out a sigh and pulled his hands away from his face. He gave the human a small smile, “I understand.”

“You’re not mad?”

He intakes another breath of air and smiles, “no, surprisingly.” He lets out a little laugh.

“I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll take you home.”

“I mean it, I’m-”

“Marco, if you keep talking I will get angry. I promised Star I would tell you how I felt and I did. And you don’t feel the same. Which is fine.” Tom stands so he doesn’t have to sit so close. The easily ignorable pain is becoming not so ignorable.

Marco looks at the floor for the rest of the ride. Tom opens the door and Marco goes to leave. “Do...you want to hang out again sometime.”

Tom looks away for a second, “I need a couple days.”

“That makes sense. See you later.”

When the door closes Tom feels like an empty shell would. He flops onto the couch and snaps his fingers. He doesn’t even feel like talking to Star about it. Instead he wanders off to his room and falls into bed.

He's really confused about why he's not more mad. Usually he would be. Maybe this was different. He felt different about Marco then he had with Star. Then again he was a different person. Maybe this was just different because he was different.

***

How wrong he had been. Tom groaned and got up from his bed. He hadn’t done anything in weeks. It was time to call Star. “Call Star Butterfly.” It used to be Starship but he changed it after his feelings for Star had left.

“Calling Star Butterfly.”

She picked up almost immediately “Tom! Oh...you don’t look so good.”

“Yah, I don’t feel so good either.”

“Marco told me.” She gives him a sympathetic look, “I’m really sorry, Tom.”

“Don’t worry about it. I need a second opinion.”

“On what.”

“This feels different. When we broke up I was livid. I was pissed. I just feel empty right now. And I miss Marco, but thinking about him hurts my chest.” He runs his hands down his face. “It hurts, Star. It's never hurt like this.”

“I’ve heard of this before. I’m gonna go get my book.” She runs off before he can say other wise. She returns with an open spell book. “You are not going to like this.”

“Just tell me, Star.” He rubs at his temples.

“Its some sort of superstition so it might not be true but you may have a soul bond.”

Tom shakes his head, “No, that only happens under the blood moon. And both parties feel it.”

“Mmm according to this, not all the time. Some sort of thing like destiny. And since Marco isn’t a demon or mewni. I think he may be unaffected.”

“Sounds fake, Star.”

“But what if it's not? I mean, what are you going to do?”

He looks down, his ears droop father down then they already were. “I don’t know.”

“ I mean, this text says that you’ll feel like you do right now as long as you are away from them.” He groans and rubs at his eyes, the third scrunching closed. “Maybe you should just hang out with Marco?”

“What would we do?”

“I don’t know...why don’t you come over and we hang out in my room and listen to love sentence!”

“Right now?”

“If you want.”

He sighs, anything sounds better then sitting and being an emotional mess for the 16th day in a row. “Let me fix myself up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But if stars shouldn't shine  
> by the first time


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its kinda short

It started out awkward, Marco avoided his line of sight the entire time Tom was at the house.  He elected to go home fairly early. Not that he didn’t like hanging out and listening to his favorite band but it just wasn’t going to work with Marco there.

***

Tom hears his mirror ringing. “Answer.” He says nonchalantly, walking to the mirror as it picks the call up for him.

“TOM” Star yells as soon as she's on. “We were fighting and then- and then he got hit- and i was busy- and”

“Whoa whoa whoa.” His once bored attitude turns to one of concern. “Slow down, Star. Take some deep breaths.”

Her breaths slowly get deeper and she starts sobbing. “He’s gone!”

Dread is already filling him. “Who’s gone?” He knows who before she even says so.

“Marco, they took him.” She snivels.    Tom’s teeth grit together and he can feel his blood boiling. “I don’t know what to do. They said to bring my wand or they were gonna- gonna.” She lets out another cry and rubs the tears out of her eyes.

“Who.” The level headedness in his own voice must be scary.

“That little creep Ludo!” She seems upset and he can understand why. Ludo was never good at anything.

“Listen to me, Star. Stay at home.”

“But-”

“I am going to go get, Marco.”

She looks worried but something changes in her emotions and she nods. “Be careful.”

Normally Tom would be up in flames. He’d be throwing a tantrum. This time his rage was silent. He ended the call and snapped his fingers.

The flames went off all around him and monsters looked his direction. “Ah Star!- oh..You are not star.” The small bird gave him a disgusted look.

He scanned the room, finding Marco in a cage. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “No, I’m not.” His eyes flicked open. He took a couple steps forward, fire was left in each of his footprints.

“No you won’t.” Tom shakes his head. “No one's going to touch a hair on his head.”

“Sure. Grab him!” Two monsters move to get his arms and all he does is crack his neck from side to side. The two monsters necks break and they fall in heaps on the floor. The air in the room changes, each monster is not as confident as they used to be.

“My name is Tom, and I’m the prince of Hell.” He scans the room once more, “Here's what's going to happen.” He smiles slightly. “You are going to let Marco go. And I’m going to leave here with him. And if I found out you hurt him.” He grits his teeth and snaps his fingers, sneering. A monster goes up in flames, screaming as it boils to death.

There's more silence. “What if we don’t let him go?”

He spins his finger around in the air and a monsters head does a 180. “You are running low on men now, Ludo, I suggest you do as I ask.”

“I want the wand, I refu-”

Flames burst up and he can feel his eyes glowing. Tom snarls, he extends his hand quickly and the small bird, along with everyone else, hits a far wall. “You are trying my patience!” He makes a fist and each monster in the room starts choking. “Understand this. Thats my soul bond mate. I asked nicely. You didn’t give him back. And now I am going to take him.” He lets go of his grip and walks to the cage.

“Tom.” Marco’s hands grip the bars.

“Hey,” He smiles, “Watch out.” the human moves his hands and he grips the bars. The metal heats up to a nice bright red and he bend the bars open. “Let’s go.”

“I’m hurt.” Marco winces.

“WHAT!?” Anyone else in the room bursts into flames except Ludo. He stomps his way to the bird and leans down next to the choking creature. “I should squash you, but you aren’t even worth that. Are you?” He flicks his hand away from his body and Ludo goes flying to the other side of the room with a cracking sound.

Tom spins back around softening his expression and taking deep breaths. “I’ll carry you.” He bends down and hooks one arm under Marco’s back and the other in the crook of the humans knees. “I’ve got you.”

 Marco’s arms lightly wrap around his neck. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome. You are coming back to my room. I want to make sure no one follows. I’ll fix your injuries.”

“O-okay.”

Tom’s fiery footsteps walk past the stunned bird. “I want you to leave Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz alone. I don’t want to have to come back here.” The little monster nods and he snaps his fingers. He takes the human to his bed and lays him down. “Where does it hurt?”

“My leg has a cut and I think I cracked a rib.” Marco pulls up his pants leg. It's a deep gash.

“Shit. Alright, I’ll fix this.” He moves across the room and grabs some medical supplies. Returning with bandages and medicine to close the wound. He starts dabbing at the blood and gently putting the medicine on.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Marco’s voice is quiet.

“Tell you what?” He focuses on cleaning up around the rapidly closing wound.

“Soul bond.”

He stops and sighs, all three eyes closing. “Right..” He opens them and looks up. “Star and I looked it up just a week ago. We weren’t even sure if it was real, it's just a superstition.”

“But you told them. And you sounded like it was real.”

He wraps the human’s leg up. “Honestly, Marco. I’ve felt like I’m missing something ever since you told me you don’t feel the same. It never hurt like this when Star was gone.”

“So it's true?”

“I think so.” He gets up to put the supplies away.

“Tom.” He can hear the human sliding off the bed. He turns around. Marco gives him a small smile and kisses his cheek. “Thank you.”

He must be pretty pathetic looking, his ears perk up and he takes in a swift breath of air. “You’re welcome.” He feels warm and a chill goes down his spine. Marco doesn’t back away and he feels like he's tricking the human some how. This is just gratitude not real feelings.

Tom backs away from Marco, “Lay down, you need rest. I’ll call Star and tell her you are okay.”

Marco nods and returns to Tom’s bed. He feels a jump in his stomach as he watches, indulging for just a second before turning to the mirror. “Call Star.”

“Calling Star Butterfly.”

It rings a couple of times “Marco!?” She looks like she's been crying more.

“I have him, he’s here with me. I’ll bring him back home in the morning.”

“Oh thank goodness!”

“Tell the Diaz family he is safe with me.”

“I will. Can I talk to him?”

Tom holds up his hand to Marco who is already trying to get up, “He’s wounded and needs rest. Don’t worry I’ve patched him up and he should be feeling better by tomorrow.”

“Okay.” She bites her bottom lip, “If you say so. See you tomorrow.” She hangs up and Tom turns back around

Marco is curled up into the blankets but doesn’t seem to be getting sleepy. “Marco?”

“I just-it's been a long day.” The human looks like he might have been slightly traumatized by the experience. Tom can understand that. He takes off his wrist bands and takes his shoes off. He throws the blankets back and climbs into the bed.

Marco doesn’t even give him a questioning look. Instead the human squishes up against him. Arms are thrown around his middle. He feels warmer than normal.

Tom gently wraps an arm around Marco and gently runs his nails through the human’s hair. Marco’s nails are digging into his back. Oh god. “Marco, ease up.” He says as softly as possible.

“Sorry.” The human whispers against his neck. He almost wishes he hadn’t done this now. The level of intimacy they are sharing is starting to get to him.

“Is this helping?” Is all he can offer.

Marco takes a deep breath and pulls him closer. “Yes.” He can’t help but smile. He lightly runs his hands through the humans hair.

He waits until Marco falls asleep against him before allowing himself to sleep.

***

Marco likes the smell he wakes up to. Sweet, unique to whatever this thing he's wrapped up in is.  When he opens his eyes he sees lavender skin, his face pressed into the crook of someone- no- Tom’s neck. He can remember how he got here now. Tom had been the one to come and save him. The demon had looked so level headed, only blowing up (really) once. _Soul bond_. Man was he feeling confused about his sexuality.

He’d even given Tom a kiss on the cheek. And here he was just snuggled up. He needed to go home and think about things. Like the fact that Tom was apparently bonded to him. If they were bonded why didn’t he feel it? Probably because he’s human. Good, got that question answered. Well, how did Tom even feel? What kind of emotions was he having if their souls were tied to one another?

More importantly, were his rising feelings just because he felt bad for Tom? It must hurt right? Being bonded to someone who didn’t love you back. Assuming Tom was in love with him. Maybe he was just romanticizing the whole bond thing. He really had to go home.

The demon shifted slightly and sat up. Marco took this opportunity to scoot away slightly. His rib felt better and his leg was like new.

“I should get you home.” The prince simply threw the covers off and got up to put some boots on.

“Okay.” He followed suit and got up.

“How does everything feel?”

“Way better, I can’t thank you enough.”

Tom smiles, “Any time. I’m glad to hear you feel better. Are you ready?”

He nods and looks down as Tom takes his hand and with a snap of fingers they are in Marco’s room. “Can you get Sta-”

“MARCO.” She was already in the room before he could finish off his sentence. Her arms wrapped around him. “I thought I had lost you! Thank the gods Tom got you back. I missed you, I’m so glad you are okay.”

“Star, Star, you are crushing my insides!” Marco’s rib starts to ache.

“Be careful with him!” Tom’s ears are flattened down and he looks agitated.

“Sorry!” Star lets go of him, looking bashful.

Tom seems to recognize his mistake and only shakes his head. “No, I’m sorry for lashing out. He’s- he just still may have a broken rib.”

“Okay, I’ll take care of him from here.” Star nods and smiles, “Thank you, Tom.”

Tom nods and raises a hand, fingers pressed together.

“Wait.” Marco reaches out to grab the demon’s wrist. Tom seems to be taken aback but only looks at him questionly. He wraps his arms around Tom. That sweet smell he liked so much this morning floods his senses again. “Thanks again.” He lets go.

Tom is blushing he can tell, “You are welcome, again.” That third eye winks at him before the demon snaps his fingers and is engulfed in flames.

There's a bit of silence. “What was that all about?” She gives him a look like she already knows what it was all about.

“Star, I need to have a really drawn out conversation with you asap.”

She narrows her eyes and looks up, Marco swears her hair is fluttering in a breeze just slightly, “Nachos and ice cream?”

“Nachos and ice cream.” He nods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Then dear its fine, so fine by me  
> cos we can give it time  
> so much time  
> with me.


	4. Chapter 4

Marco sat on his bed with Star. He’d changed his pants, blood had soaked through the first pair. Yet his wound had healed completely already. Whatever Tom had used was obviously magical. Star had offered to fix his rib with her wand but due to last times incident he declined.

They had two bowls between them, a large one of nachos and an even larger one of ice cream, at least three different flavors with two spoons inside.  

“Tell me everything, bro.”

Marco looked at her briefly before staring straight ahead. “Well, when he came into the castle I was really surprised. He looked like, silent mad. The scary kind. He wasn’t just exploding again. He then slaughtered like 4 people to make a point.”

“Ugh, what a brute.” She rolled her eyes, “He’s still a bit of a jerk then?”

“No no, it wasn’t like the blood moon ball. It was like. I knew nothing was going to happen to me. H was just making sure everyone in the room knew he was in control of what happened” He pauses, “Star.”

“Yah?..”

“It was hot.”

She spit her chips out “what do you mean??”

“I mean it was really hot, Star.”

She erupted into a fit of giggles. “Oh my god, Marco.”

He starts laughing about it a little as well, “It was, I know it's weird but it was. Anyways. Ludo started getting on his nerves and that's when he told them he was like..soul bonded to me or something. They seemed even more scared after that. But he was choking them all out with magic so.”

“He told you?” She knits her brows together.

“Yah. let me finish.”

“Sure sure.”

“He melted the bars open and I told him they had hurt me. That's when he blew up. He killed everyone but Ludo. Then he offered to carry me.”

“And you let him, even though he was angry?”

“He wasn’t angry towards me. He was..really sweet when he talked to me. I let him carry me back and he fixed everything. Here's where I get confused.”

“Mmhm?” Star takes a big spoon full of ice cream and eats it.

“I felt like, really connected to him. Like, kinda fuzzy. But I don’t know if it was because he saved me and took care of me, or if I felt bad for him because he was bonded to me.”

She nods, “Anything else happen?”

“Yah,” He felt himself blush, “I gave him a kiss on the cheek and” He makes a disgruntled noise before hiding his face. “For like a brief second I was ready to do more?? Like kiss him and stuff. But again, I'm still confused about why.”

“Well did you?”

“No, He pulled away and told me to lay down. Then we called you. After that he got into bed with me. I think he could tell I was feeling weird about being captured. I kind of snuggled up to him and he held me close. He asked me if he was helping and I told him he was. I kind of fell asleep in his arms..”

Star let out a squeal, “Oh my god, Maaaarco!”

“Yah I know, it's ridiculous. But I’m still really confused.”

“Well,” She tapped her chin before eating more ice cream, “Will it help if I tell you how he feels?”

“Maybe?” He honestly didn’t know.

“So you know how love feels right?”

“Kinda?”

“Okay but imagine it right in your heart and really heavy. Like carrying around a big weight. Imagine missing something you didn’t even have. He said it was kinda like that.”

“Well that just makes me feel worse.”

“You know the real reason he didn’t want to tell you?”

Marco raises an eyebrow at her. “No?”

“He didn’t want you to feel like this. He doesn’t want you to feel guilty. He’s going to be fine, Marco. You should take some time to think it through. Maybe you two should hang out and you can decide then if you feel guilty or if you like him.”

He nodded slowly. “Yah, I’ll think about it.” And by think about it he meant he was already trying to find an excuse to be close to Tom again so he could figure out his own feelings.

“Pony Head is having a party in another dimension that you could invite Tom to!” She looks excited about that prospect. It could work, he could figure things out as they hang out together.

“Yah, I’ll invite him to come with us.” Marco smiles slowly.

***

   

Tom is surprised when Marco invites him to a party but less than stellar when he arrives and so many people are there. Crowds had always been uncomfortable for him. He straightens his spine and takes a deep breath. Star and Marco are here somewhere waiting for him.

“Tom! Over here!” Star is waving at him. She's wearing a different dress than normal. Marco is wearing some of those new clothes they bought. He looks fucking great.

Tom struts over to the pair. “You look great, Marco.” He hopes that plays off as a comment on the new clothing. And if it doesn’t he decides he doesn't care.

“T-Thanks.” Marco blushes lightly.

Someone puts a drink in his hand and passes some to Marco and Star.  She turns it down, but Marco takes the drink. Star gives the human a dirty look, but Marco only rolls his eyes.

Tom doesn’t want to get smashed but a drink or two can’t hurt.

***

He’s smashed. Well, he's not gone. Tom still can register that someone is practically hanging onto him. He's very sure he should go home and start treating the probable hang over he's going to suffer form in the morning

Marco is the person hanging off of him, and the human seems way worse off then him. Marco’s words slur together and he seems pretty gone.

“H-hey.” He looks towards the human speaking to him, “You know I think I’m gay.”

Tom raises an eyebrow, “What are you talking about, Marco?”

“I’m like, super gay. Like” A long pause where Marco’s eyes blink one at a time. “The other day, when you saved me.” The human bites his lip. “Fuuuck.” Comes out far more sexualized then Tom cares to hear.

“Hey, I'm gonna take Marco home, I think he's really drunk.” Tom taps Star on the shoulder. She seems to be fine, refusing to drink anything.

“Okay! I’ll see you two later!” She smiles wide.

Marco’s lips press to his ear “What do you want to do when you take me home?” he whispers in the demon’s ear.

Tom can feel himself blush before pushing the human away slightly and laughing nervously. “Let’s just get you to lay down and get some rest. You are going to feel this tomorrow.”

Marco giggles, hanging onto him enough where he doesn’t even have to hold the human's hand to transport both of them. He snaps his fingers and recognizes the room. It's much more quiet here then at the party.

"Alright, right here.” Tom guides Marco to the bed and tries to pry his hands away.

“No, I’m not done.” The human pushes him down and he's forced to sit. Marco’s weight lands in his lap, hands roaming all over. His stomach jumps as the human’s hands push over his sides and up his chest.

Marco’s lips are all over his neck before he can stop it. His ears flatten and he makes a pathetic sound. “Marco,” He pushes lightly at the human’s chest, Marco’s lips are surprisingly soft along his neck. He’s trying to ignore how good it feels.  “You are drunk, and I’m drunk.”

“So?”

“So I don’t want to do it like this. It's not right.”

Marco sits back and pouts, “Don’t you want me?”

He chuckles slightly, “It's more than that, though. I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

Marco looks confused for a second before nodding slowly. “I think I understand.”

“You aren’t going to remember this in the morning anyways, I can tell.” He forces the human to lay down on the bed. “Now rest. You have a bad morning ahead of you.”

Marco nods and curls up, pulling the blankets up around him. “Thanks, Tommy~”

He can’t help but smile at sweet name, “Goodnight, Marco.”

***

Tom’s head hurts in the morning and he can hear his mirror going off. “Answer.” He groans. He feels too awful to actually get up and show his face.

“Hey, Tom.” He can hear the grogginess in Marco’s voice without even seeing him.

“Morning, Marco~” He can’t help that his voice sounds fond.

'Hey so, last night got crazy.” He expects to hear that Marco doesn’t remember what happened. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I think I overstepped some boundaries.”

Tom sits up and looks at his mirror. The human is looking down. He pulls himself out of bed and in front of his mirror. “Marco, I think we need to talk about somethings.”

“Yah,” The human nods and rubs the back of his neck.

“Mind if I pick you up. I can treat that headache you have.”

Marco smiles, “How did you know?”

He smiles back, “Just a hunch.” He winks and snaps his fingers. Marco, despite knowing he was coming, lets out a yelp at his arrival. “Oh, sorry, Marco.” He offers his hand out and a warm smile.

The human takes his hand and he transports them back to his own room. He hopes they can get past all the awkwardness behind them and just get right to it. It doesn’t seem to be that way though.

“So...again, I am really sorry. “ Nervous chuckle from Marco, “I kinda jumped the gun last night. I didn’t really want to do that..”

“It's alright, Marco.” Tom sits down and rubs his eyes, “Can I get you some seltzer water? It will help your stomach and head.”

“That would be great.” Marco takes a seat on his bed and he turns his wrist over and materializes a can. He hands it to the hungover mess on his bed. “Thank, Tom.”

“You are welcome. Now about the things we need to talk about.”

Marco cracks open the can and chugs it. “Yah…” the human takes a deep breath. “Alright here's the deal, I meant what I said about you rescuing me from Ludo. I just, it was really nice of you and I’ve never seen you like that. I’m going to start being 100% honest with your right now. And I’ll told you what I told Star. I thought you were really hot when you rescued me. And it hasn’t gone away since. I think you are attractive. You were so kind.” Marco is looking past him at the floor but smiling nonetheless.

Tom smiles at the way the human looks. He can hear bits of  his own wishful thinking in Marco’s voice. Though he can tell its real.

“I was ready to kiss you and whatever came after. I just wanted to be close to you. And last night. I am so sorry again. My barriers were down and I lost control.”

Tom take a deep breath, though Marco hasn’t outright said it he's sure he meant that he feels the same. It only makes sense. “What are you saying?”

“Tom, I think I feel the same about you. Not like how you feel exactly, because of your bond, but I like you.”

“You do?” He feels a bit too hopeful.

“Yah.”

Tom’s not even sure what to do. He wants to pick Marco up and kiss him but that seems like he would overstep what they had just said. He can tell he's just sitting there, smiling like an idiot, because Marco giggles slightly.

“Tom, you are thinking too much.”

He nods along to the words before registering them. “Oh, uh” He laughs nervously. Marco smiles and leans forward. Suddenly they are kissing. Its an awkward first kiss, lips pressed together too firm. They both relax after just a couple of awkward seconds. They shift and move slightly.    

Tom lets out a pathetic noise, it sounds like he's either dying or having the best time of his life. He feels like something inside him has finally been fed. He can’t control his own pace. He finds himself halfway leaning over Marco, the human's hands are in his hair.

He pulls away slowly but just enough so their foreheads can touch, careful of his third eye. “Sorry,” he’s surprised that he’s a little breathless.

Marco lets out a small laugh, “It's okay.” Thumbs run across his cheekbones as the human cups his cheeks. There's a short pause. “That felt right.”

“It did?” He opens two of his eyes but keep the third closed.

“Yeah, it did.” Marco is smiling up at him. Their eyes are meeting, his ears flatten close to his neck. Marco lets out a laugh at that. “How come I’ve never noticed how cute your ears are.”

Tom smiles slightly and gives a warm chuckle before pressing his face into the human’s skin and taking a deep breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I can draw the line on the first date  
> I'll let you cross it  
> Let you take every line I've got  
> When the time gets late


	5. Chapter 5

Marco spends all day at Tom’s place. He's never really had a boyfriend or girlfriend before. He knows it's sad to admit but really he only dated casually. Maybe give his current partner a kiss once in a week. He was just so awkward about relationships. 

So far he could tell that being in a relationship with Tom was going to be totally different. His face hurt from both smiling and kissing. He wouldn’t say the demon was clingy, just, very affectionate. Which wasn’t at all expected. 

Star always made him seem like he was negligent and pissed off all the time. The Tom he was getting to know was sweet and loving. It was just strange to him. Not that Tom couldn’t get angry still, he was just easy to aggression, but Marco felt like he couldn’t handle it a bit better then Star could.

“Should probably head home soon.” He checks the time on his phone. Tom nuzzles into him.

“No.” the demon whines, ears flattening down. They have been doing nothing for hours now. His hangover is finally gone. 

He laughs slightly, “Tom. I mean it.”

“No.” Tom sits up, “You should stay here.~” 

Something about that seems really really enticing, he thinks it just might be the delivery. “I have school tomorrow.” The demon whines and they are kissing again, the demon's lips move to his neck. Marco can’t help moving his hands to Tom’s shoulders. “Tom, I have school. I have to get up early tomorrow~” 

He's not being very convincing as he lifts his back and makes a small noise. He can feel sharp teeth run over his skin. He likes that a lot more then he wants to dwell on. “Tom.” He pushes slightly and the demon pulls away.

“Fine, I’ll take you home.” Tom gets up and straightens his shirt. Marco gets off the bed and takes Tom’s hand. The demon snaps his fingers and transports him home. 

“I’ll see you soon.” Marco smiles.

Tom takes the hand he’s holding and raises it to his lips. The demon kisses his knuckles, the third eye half lidded and looking up at him. “I’ll miss you, my dove.” 

Marco giggles slightly as Tom smiles and winks at him. “I’ll miss you too.”

The prince snaps his fingers and is gone in a flash of flames. As soon as he's gone the door slowly and silently opens. “MARCO!” Star stands in the doorway.

“Let me guess. You heard everything.”

She squeals and shakes her fists. “He called you his dove!” 

Marco smiles and rolls his eyes, “Yah, he did.”

Star rushes in and flops onto his bed, “You know your necks all red in one spot right?”

“What!?” He rushes to his mirror and touches the light red patch. Its noticeable, not very, but it is. “Are you kidding me! I’m going to have to go to school with this!”

“What is it?” Star sits up and tilts her head. 

“Star, I’ve been at Tom’s all day. What do you think it is?”

She makes a confused face at him for a long time before looking surprised, “pooh” She scrunches up her nose, “oh.” Star smiles and gives him a knowing looking, “oooh.” then she starts giggling “OH, Marco oh my-”

“Exactly, everyone in school  is going to see.” He stops himself. No. This is perfect. “Everyone is going to see it.” He grins at his reflection.

Star raises an eyebrow, “Why is that a good thing?” 

“The safe kid has a hickey.” 

“Oh I get it, but you know people will want to know who gave it to you.” 

He deflates, “Can’t really say Tom the demon can I?”

“Not really..”

“Damn it.” 

“Now you have a mystery boyfriend.” Star wiggles her fingers at him.

“That's kind of cool, right?”

“Yah! You can tell everyone you have a boyfriend!”

“Yah, that's right I can.” He smiles.

***

Marco spends all Monday telling his fellow classmates that he has a boyfriend. They ask him where he got the faint mark and he gladly tells them. He shouldn’t be so proud, he always thought they looked gross on other people. But he kinda just wants a deeper, darker, better bruise to show off. 

He’ll have to ask Tom next time. But then he remembers how good it felt to just get this one. Maybe he should just wait before he rushes into things. 

“Hello, Marco.” Ferguson pats the seat next to him in math class. “How yah doing today, buddy.”

“Pretty good.” he shrugs as he sits down.

“So when am I gonna meet your boyfriend, huh?” 

Marco rolls his eyes and smiles, “Whenever I feel like showing him to you.” 

“C’mon, stop messing around. We are best friends, Marco. You are letting me down.”

“Fine fine, I’ll tell you.” He leans in to whisper, “You know that demon me and Star hang out with?”

Ferguson nods along, “Yah, the lavender colored one right? Tom?”

“Yeah, its him.”

“Whoa really!?” His friend’s voice raises back to a normal speaking level. 

“Yah, He's actually really nice.”

“I thought you said he was an asshole.”

“That was awhile ago, Ferguson. He’s not all that bad.” 

“I’m gonna tell Alphonse all about this.”

Marco rolls his eyes with a smile. 

***

He’s pretty excited to get home, Marco just wants to go home and call Tom. He’s never felt so attached to someone before and it's only been a day. He grabs a hand held mirror that Star gave him and calls the demon. He feels like a teenage girl from a stereotypical sitcom. Sitting on his bed with his feet propped up behind him and he holds the mirror out in front of him.

“What!?” Tom picks up and looks pissed, face changing when he sees who it is. “Oh! Marco. I thought you might be- never mind.” The demon is patting fire off his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” He sits up and holds the mirror closer. 

“Yes,” Tom’s eyes close and he rubs at his temples. “I’m just busy and my anger isn’t helping. My parents can be insufferable sometimes.”

“I’m coming over.” He's already putting his hoodie back on.

“Marco, I don’t think that's such a good idea. My anger ruins everything, you should jus-”

“Nope. I don’t want to hear it. STAR I NEED THE SCISSORS.”

“Marco-”

“I can handle your anger, I'm different from Star.” He hangs up. He knows that probably just makes the demon angrier but he can’t be bothered to care. 

“Where do you need to go?” Star raises an eyebrow as she holds the interdimensional scissors.

“Open a portal to Tom’s, he’s upset and I need to be there.”

“Are you sure? Tom’s anger can get pretty scary.”

"I’m not scared.”

She sighs and shrugs, making a quick snipping motion and then cutting a hole in mid air. He nods his thanks before stepping in. Tom is seething he can tell, his eyes are that white red color and he's breathing heavy. 

Tom walks like he weighs nothing, fire rises up in each foot step. “I told you not to come here!” the demon looms over him and balls his fists up. 

Marco is forced to look up at his boyfriend's enraged face. “Tom. It's going to be okay.” He takes the demon's hand, sucking in hair at the hot temperature. “See. I’m here to help. Now come with me.” Tom’s face contorts into one of confusion before Marco tugs him along to the bed. “C’mon.”

Tom follows reluctantly but still follows. He slips his shoes off, luckily Tom’s are already off, and tugs the demon into bed. He pulls Tom close. “Do you want to talk about it?”

The heat is subsiding and Marco has a feeling he's helping. “No.” Tom’s face presses into his chest, arms slowly wrapping around him. 

“Are you sure?” Marco snakes his fingers into the light red hair. 

“Yeah,” the calm clear tone is back, “I’ve just had a stressful day.” Tom nuzzles into him, rubbing his face into the human's chest like a cat would. 

“I can tell.” Marco’s fingers brush past the horns on his boyfriend's head. The demon lets out a groan. “That felt good?”

“Yah, keep doing it.” Tom’s voice has lowered, he's not sure if he should continue with the level Tom’s voice is at. He pushes past his nervous energy and touches the base of both horns. Tom’s breath picks up immediately. He lightly grips them and runs his hand up the hard appendages, gripping like he would if he was massaging someone's hand.

“Mm, so much better when someone else does it.” Tom hands wander down his sides.

“O-ooohkay!” He lets go, “are those, are, am i-”

“No no,” Tom’s third eye looks up at him half lidded, “they’re just sensitive.” 

“Oh, good. I- do you want me to keep going?”

“If you would?” Marco grips the horns again and rubs at them. Tom groans but props his head on the human's chest. “How was your day?~”

“Pretty good, I got to show off, today.” Marco means it as a half joke. 

Tom smiles, “It's not very impressive.” Tom’s sharp nail travels down the bruise. “I could give you a better one.” 

His stomach does a flip, “Yah I’d like that.” Tom smiles at him and pushes himself up. Marco lets go of the demon’s horns. He feels a bit too intimate as Tom moves to lay over the top of him but he can’t help the way his legs move slightly. He can feel himself blushing hard. Tom breathes against his neck and he whines, slapping a hand over his mouth.

Tom chuckles, “You must be really sensitive here, my dove.” oh great, Tom was a sweet talker in bed, of course he was. In bed, what is he even thinking about. They aren’t-well- they are in a bed and he is feeling eager. A wave of nerves is hitting him. It's too soon. Hes about to vocalize his concern but Tom starts kissing.

Fuck, he's a wreck. He lets out a groan as sharp teeth slide across his skin and Tom starts to suck. His hands fly upwards and he grips the horns like handles, his back arches sharply. “Tom~” 

The demon cups one side of his neck and starts nipping. Fuck, those are sharp. He always figured he was a kid who wouldn’t like pain but he does, oh god he does. He shifts his hips slightly, he feels like he's getting a bit too excited. “Tom. Tom, stop. Thats enough.” he can’t help but groan the words out. 

Tom presses a few more gentle kisses to his neck before pulling away, wiping his bottom lip. “Can you let up just a bit, my love?”

He lets go of the horns. “Oh! Sorry, Tom.”

“That's alright.” Tom rolls off of him to the side, “I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable?”

“No I just, it was getting a little too real for me. I’m just not ready to..you know.”

“Don’t feel pressured, I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.” Tom kisses him and he happily kisses back. “I am very glad you came over~”

“You are?”

“Yes, I know I was angry when you showed up, but.” Tom takes a deep breath. “Star would never have handled my anger. She would have left or gotten upset. You just, handle me very well.”

“Yah, she's not to good at that. I’m glad I could help.” He smiles, “Have you dated anyone else besides Star?”

“No,” Tom looks embarrassed. “Like I told you before, it's hard for people to break this image of me that's always angry. She was the only one who kind of saw past all my insecurities. But it just, didn’t work.” 

Marco gives the demon a sympathetic look, “Well look at it this way, if you had never dated her. You wouldn’t have found me. Right?”

Tom smiles at that, “yeah, I guess you are right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But if stars, shouldn't shine  
> By the very first time  
> Then dear it's fine, so fine by me  
> 'Cos we can give it time  
> So much time  
> With me


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what this whole chapter is, I bet you do.

Thank god, Friday is finally here. Marco has had enough of school and he just wants to sit with Tom and have a good time. Plus that mark on his neck is finally starting to fade and he could use a new one. This one got a lot more attention then a little fading red spot.

This mark was deep purple and yellowing on the edges. Whenever he caught a glance of himself in a window or mirror his eyes wandered to his neck. The feelings would resurface and he’d blush deep red. It had been like that all week. Marco was getting tired of it. He wasn’t even going to wait for Tom to call or call Tom himself. 

“Star, can you open a portal to Tom’s room?” 

“Ugh, we never hang out anymore.” She pouts.

“We can do something Sunday.”

“What about tomorrow?” She tilts her head.

“I have a feeling I’m going to be staying the night at Tom’s”

“What gives you-”

Marco gives her a deadpan look and she slowly comes to a realization. “Ooh, gross. Have a good time?” She cuts a hole open in the air.

“I’ll try.” He steps into the portal and finds the room empty. Which is fine, it doesn’t really matter, he can wait for the demon. It doesn’t take long for him to hear the boots of his boyfriend. 

Tom opens the double doors, his ears perk up. “Marco.” Tom seems pleased to see him, “I didn’t expect to see you here. Are you alright?”

“Do I need an excuse to see my boyfriend?” He slides off the bed and practically skips to Tom. Tom kisses him and he wraps his arms around the demon's neck. Tom’s hands are gentle as he grips onto his hips. 

“I suppose not.” The prince guides him by the hip to the bed. “How was the rest of your week? The last time I saw you was monday night~”

Marco sighs, “frustrating.”

Tom gives him a confused look, just slightly concerned. “Why?”

“I kept seeing myself in the mirror. And it was just. Frustrating is the best word I can come up with.” Marco feels himself blushing.

“Oh, I understand.” The demon is blushing too. “Is that why you brought a change of clothing.”

“Nothing has to happen.” Marco’s confidence is slowly fading away. 

“No no no, I’m just a bit surprised.” This was a horrible idea, he shouldn't have expected so much. “A good surprised though.” Tom hands smooth over his hips. He can feel his own breathing starting to pick up. A couple quick pictures flash through his head.

Tom smiles at him before nodding down to the bed. “Want to lay down, my dove?”

Marco nods and sits down, pushing himself back and laying down flat. He can tell he must look awkward. His shoulders are pulled up high next to his ears. He's not even looking at Tom, and his cheeks are burning red. His legs are slightly bent up and his kneecaps are squeezed together. 

Tom chuckles and sits near his legs, hands gently pushes at them lightly. “Marco, Its me. Wait that's a terrible thing to say…” Marco can’t help but laugh, the demon smiles, “Relax. Do you know that I would never hurt you?”

“Y-yah.” 

Tom rests his stomach against Marco’s knees and lightly rubs at his shoulders. “Shhh it’ll be alright. Why don’t you drop these shoulders.”

Marco does as instructed and lets them go down slowly. He opens his legs up slightly to let the prince in. Tom gladly settles in, hovering over him. “It's just us.” Tom kisses him sweetly at first. His hands move and he lets them wander. Feeling up the demons back and into his hair. 

Their kiss turns a bit more desperate, mouths opening up. He can’t help when he wraps his legs around the demon. “There you go, now you are getting it~” Tom chuckles and moves to his neck.

He nervously laughs, the vocalization turning to a groan as he feels nips along his neck. He can’t help but bring his hands to the demon’s horns. It's one thing he knows Tom really likes. The motion renders the prince on top of him inept, taking a breath and rolling his hips down.

Marco feels a little too excited now but he quickly remembers why he is here. He does his best to move his hips back up into Tom’s. “Maaarco~” The demon kisses him deeply. 

Marco groans into their kiss, “Oh shit.” He never swears but he can let this one slide. Tom’s teeth hook into his skin slightly and their shy kissing turns into grinding. Marco can hear his own heart beat over the sound of his own steady string of noises. 

He’d never figured himself a loud person either, but he couldn’t stop. The friction was getting to him, and he wanted more. “Harder~” He whines, dropping his filter. 

“Clothes off.” Tom whispers against his ear before sitting back and removing his tank top. He didn’t even take the time to see what Tom was wearing. 

“Hey, that looks really good on you.” He sounds breathless as he pulls off his hoodie. It was becoming too hot anyways. 

Tom smiles, laughing slightly, “Thank you, my dove.” 

Marco didn’t think it was possible to blush any deeper. He let out a nervous laugh, pulling his shirt off and tossing it. The embarrassment was coming back to him now that he was a bit more exposed. 

“C’mon, it's still me.” Tom cups his chin and kisses him. He feels a bit better kissing, once again he goes for the horns. The demon growls slightly and tips him onto his back. His stomach jumps, he liked that a lot. Way too much. 

“Fuck, Tom~” He arches his back as the prince grips him tight and kisses at his chest and stomach.

“Marco, I didn’t know you had such rich smooth skin~”

He laughs out loud at that, “What are you talking about, I have little marks everywhere.”

“They’re called beauty marks for a reason, Marco~” 

Marco doesn’t know how to feel about that. He likes Tom a lot, very much. Wanted to be with him and spend time with him. But for some reason it was all really clicking together. Tom was sweet and wanted to make sure he was feeling good. He’s not really sure how to deal with that feeling so he stores it away, now isn’t the time.

Marco has never gotten to really admire Tom’s body. It's not something that was ever important to him. He can’t help when his hands wander up the demon’s chest, he never even noticed how fit Tom was. 

“See something you like?” Tom is giving him a sly look. He hadn’t even realized that his jaw had dropped and he was staring. 

“Oh, stop.” He rolls his eyes.

Tom sits up and starts on Marco’s pants. Slowly sliding them off. He knows he has no real reason to be embarrassed but he is. Tom is quickly taking his own off though. Tom looks up at him as if asking to go further. He nods and the demon takes off his boxers. Soon enough they are both naked. He's starting to feel embarrassed again. 

The prince snaps his fingers and a small bottle appears in his hands. He can feel himself starting to shut down again. This time Tom is in between his legs and he can’t close himself off.

Marco lets out a gasp, his barriers fail him for just a second “oh mierda!” Tom stops pushing a finger into him and gives him a concerned look.

“I don’t know what that was but it didn’t sound good. Are you alright?”

He nods, “I’m alright. Keep going.”

It's uncomfortable at first but at some point it is not enough. “More,” He can’t help but grip the demon's shoulders. It becomes uncomfortable again as Tom uses two fingers. Once he relaxes into it Tom adds a third. 

“Ready?” Tom’s voice almost sounds like a purr next to his ear. 

He lets out a groan just from the warm breath, “Yes, please, yes.” 

“Eager, hmm?” Tom is still whispering and he shivers.

“Hurry please~”

“Can do~” Tom props his legs up with one smooth motion. It doesn’t take long for the demon to be kissing his neck and pushing into him. “Tell me if it hurts.”

It hurts a lot but he keeps that to himself. He can’t help his fingers digging into Tom’s shoulder blades. “Shh, it's alright.” 

They sit there for just a second and he feels like it's not getting any better. “Just go.” He tries to relax a bit.

“Are you sure?” Tom is very affectionate. Kissing his neck, and nuzzling into him.

“Yes.” 

Tom’s hips pull back and push back in, he sucks air in through his teeth slightly. Gripping onto Tom even harder. “Darling, sweetheart, you have to relax. Let me take care of you~” 

He nods and takes a deep breath. Tom’s thrusts are slow and easy, Marco can’t see it getting any better, but he slowly starts to feel more pleasure than pain and he needs something more. “más difícil~”

“What was that?~” Tom’s husky voice whispers in his ear again. 

“S-sorry, Harder~” Marco whines as he feels the thrusts get more intense. He's starting to lose what little he has left of his filter. “Yes~ Tom~” A slow string of moans is leaving him. He can tell he's drooling slightly. 

The demon is groaning against his neck, Tom’s hands travel up his arms and force his hands back to the bed. Their fingers intertwining. It feels like a very romantic gesture and he feels connected to Tom more than he was before. Their foreheads are touching and their kissing is sweet but passionate. 

“Shit, Tom please~” Marco moans loudly and kisses his boyfriend again. “I’m close.” He can feel it building up in him. 

The prince speeds up his thrusts and Marco feels like he's losing it. “Tom! Si, Oh Dios. Estoy tan cerca.” They slow down for a second and Tom pulls him up into his lap.

He's confused for a second, “it's easy, just lift up and lower back down.” Tom whispers soothingly to him. Hands lightly massaging his hips. Marco takes a deep breath and lifts himself up. Slowly he lowers himself down, letting out a low groan. Tom kisses his jaw and neck. He knows he's going to have marks everywhere. 

“Keep going, love~” Tom whispers encouragingly to him. It helps and he gets a steady rhythm going, gripping onto the demon’s shoulders for support. “Let me help.” Tom kisses him quickly before leaning back. The new position helps him greatly, he squeezes Tom’s sides with his thighs and moves his hands to Tom’s chest. “Better?~” the prince asks.

“Better~” He's surprised at how lustful his own voice sounds. Tom licks his lips and he decides  it's time to move. Tom hasn’t been very vocal yet, but now Tom’s very vocal. The demon grips his hips hard enough to hurt just a bit. Not that he minds, he likes the prickly feeling. The new position gives him some advantage and control. 

Marco finds he's still very vocal, his barriers are down completely. “joder, tom, te amo!~” He's so glad Tom can’t understand him. “por favor, vaya más dura, más difícil!~”

Marco isn’t sure what he's done but Tom likes it a lot. Moaning underneath him and thrusting upwards slightly. “Fuck, Marco~” Tom grips him tightly and tips him back, he can’t help but let out a little surprised noise as he lands on his back. His surprised noise turns to a high pitched moan. Tom pins him down by the hips and starts pistoning his hips back and forth. 

“Oh Dios, me voy a venir!” He rakes his fingers down the demons back. 

Tom’s lips are at his neck again, biting and sucking in marks. It's the last straw for him and he spills in between them, holding on for dear life. “Tom!~” He lets out the loud moan and arches his back. Tom makes a small moan in his ear. “Oh~ Tommy~” He lets out small little moans and whines.

Tom’s thrusts don’t slow down and he keeps moaning through them even though he feels like he can’t take anymore. Just when tears are slightly coming out of his eyes Tom spills into him, “Marco~” 

They sit there for just a bit longer. Tom draws away from him and grabs the blankets. Wrapping them up together. Marco is still breathing hard when the demon prince pulls him close. He lightly smoothes his hands over Tom’s arms and back. Tom wraps both arms around him. “Was it okay?~” Tom kisses his forehead.

He takes a deep breath, “Yes, god, yes.” Marco can feel Tom smile. He can feel himself shaking slightly and his neck aches. But it's all a good feeling. 

“Good.” The demon kisses his cheek. Again, he's so surprised at how affectionate Tom is. Since not long ago he thought the demon was an asshole. He spends a bit of time catching his breath. 

“Can I get up really quick?~” Marco smiles.

“Of course~”

He slides out of the demons grip and pulls on some sweat pants he brought along. Marco steps in front of the mirror and checks himself over. His hips have fingertip bruises imprinted on them. His chest and neck are littered with deep purple and red bruises. “It looks like you attacked me.” He turns his head different ways.

Tom pulls himself up and pulls on a pair of pants. “You like them?” the demon seems to purr the words.

“Oh yah.” He giggles slightly. 

Tom steps up behind him and holds onto his sides slightly. The prince kisses at his neck lightly. He smiles at the image of his boyfriend in the mirror. Tom’s third eye meets his while the others remain close. “Are you going to stay the night with me?”

He smiles at the suggestive tone, “What do you have in mind?”

“I don’t want to sound like a jerk about it, but” Tom rests his chin on his shoulder. “I just want to be as close to you as possible. For as long as possible.” Tom kisses his shoulder.

“I think I can get behind that.” Marco reaches back to lightly touch his boyfriends horns. “But I’m gonna need a break.”

“You’re not convincing me, touching me like that~”

He can’t help but grin, “I know.”

“No one likes a tease, Marco~” Tom rubs his thumbs into Marco’s hips. 

“I have a feeling you do.” He yawns and slips out of his boyfriends grip. Returning to the bed, flopping down onto it.

“Was that your native tongue?” Tom lays next to him. 

Marco blushes, “Yeah, I guess I kind of let it slip.”

“It was hot.~” Tom says simply and he turns a darker shade. He has no idea why not understanding someone would be a turn on but Tom likes it so it doesn’t matter. 

“Thanks?”

“Sorry if it makes you feel insecure.”

“No, just surprising.” He flips himself over and lays his head against the demon's chest. Tom’s hands run smoothly through his hair, “Tom. I have something I have to tell you.”

There's some hesitation, “What is it?”

“I didn’t want to say it while we were...um, but I think I’m falling in love with you.” He can hear Tom’s heart speed up quickly.

“Really?” The demon sounds so hopeful.

“Yes~”

Tom picks him up and pins him onto his back, kissing him. He giggles into their kiss. “I love you too Marco. You already knew that though, didn’t you?”

“I figured, soul bond and all.”

Tom’s eyes are so soft while he's looking down. “I’ve never had anyone say they loved me.”

“Well that's kind of sad.” Marco smiles lightly, “Guess i'll have to start changing that.”

“I guess you will~” Tom kisses him sweetly again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want me  
> Let me know  
> Where do you wanna go  
> No need for talking  
> I already know  
> If you want me  
> Why go
> 
> If you want me  
> Let me know  
> Where do you wanna go  
> No need for talking  
> I already know  
> If you want me  
> Why go


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Marco likes psychology, and I'm a psychology major in college and I know if I got the present Marco got for his birthday, I would be so flipping ecstatic (Parsimony is one of my favorite things to study so I just put it in cus I can). Sorry its a bit shorter, but I felt like I had to separate this from the next thing that is going to happen. Also didn't feel like writing more smut but I'll let your imagination figure what they do out.

Tom isn’t sure how good of an idea this is, but surprises are supposed to be surprising right? Plus he wants to make Marco happy on his birthday. He looks good, he knows he smells good because he put on his cologne. He has his slacks and button up white shirt, black tie, and black overcoat.   
      
On earth clothes are everything. Once he knows he looks nice and presentable he's snaps his fingers. Just as he had done for Star on the night of the blood moon ball he teleports his carriage and himself to the school.   
     
Tom double checked that it was defiantly lunchtime for Marco before stepping out. Flames rise up in his footsteps, not from anger, his long gait might look calm but he feels nervous. People look his way, some staring at his horns. Others give him half lidded smiles. He ignores both.  
     
Tom can see Marco sitting at a lunch table with two of his friends and star. His boots make small little clinks against the linoleum. Marco is looking down at his food, he needs something to catch his boyfriends attention. He flicks his hands to the side and two tables move away slowly from their table.   
     
Marco looks up, confused at first and then smiling brightly. “Tom!~” His friends look up as well as Star. She seems very surprised to see that he even came.  
      
“Happy birthday, my beautiful dove~” He half bows and produces a cake in his hand before him. Snapping his fingers the candles alight.   
     
“Oh my god, Tommy!~” The human jumps up and he tries very hard to not let the cake tip over as Marco hugs him tight. “I almost for like, half a second, thought you forgot.”  
     
“How could I forget such an important date.~” He kisses the human's cheek, “Now do you want to make a wish?” He gestures to the cake.  
     
“Hell yah I do.” Marco sucks in a breath of air and blows the candles out.   
     
“Lets eat!” He sets the cake down and produces a knife out of thin air.  
     
“I’ll cut it!” Star grabs the knife from him and starts in on cutting the cake. Marco hangs onto his side, arm wrapped around him.   
     
“Guys, I know you’ve met Tom before but this is him officially.”   
      
Tom gives a small wave to the two, they both greet him enthusiastically.   
     
“Here you go, Marco!” Star hands over a plate of cake. “Birthday boy gets first piece!”   
     
“Thanks, Star!” Marco pulls away from him to take the cake, while he's eating Star gets up.   
     
“What are you doing?” She whispers.  
      
He can’t help but raise an eyebrow. “I’m here giving my soul bond a nice surprise?”  
     
“Tell me what your intentions are with my best friend, you were never this nice to me.” She's pointing a finger at him.

He grimaces heavily. “My only ‘intention’ is to make him happy, Star.” He can hear the slight snarl in each word.

“Getting angry now, Thomas?” She narrows her eyes.  
      
“Star, I thought we were friends. Why are you doing this?’ The bad part is, he can feel himself getting mad.  
      
“There's no way this is you. You are not the Tom I dated.”  
      
“No, you’re right, Star. I’ve changed and Marco makes me happy. And I’m pretty sure I make him happy. I am most definitely not the Tom you dated.” He can feel flames licking at his legs.   
      
“Tom,” Marco touches his arm and the flames die down immediately. “Are you alright?” He can feel the human leaching all the anger right out of him.   
      
“Yes, sorry. This is your day.” Tom smiles. “I’ll do my best to keep my anger under control.”  
     
“If you do there might be something in it for you~”  
      
He can feel himself blush, his eyebrows shoot up, because there's no way everyone here doesn’t know exactly what that means. “It's your birthday not mine.” It is a very good motivator though.  
      
The human brings his voice down, “Yah but maybe I want you as a birthday present?”

“If you say so” Tom smiles as he whispers back.  
      
Marco gives him a peck on the lips, “Is that okay?”  
     
“Of course, it's your birthday after all.”  
     
“Okay.” Marco gives him a big smile. “Want some cake?”   
     
“I’d love some~” Tom nips lightly at Marco’s neck, letting his sharp teeth make a clink sound.  
     
“Thomas!” Marco giggles and pushes him away, “You know what I meant.”  
     
“Sorry I just thought you looked a lot better.” Tom smirks at his own joke and picks up a slice of cake.   
     
“Oh I get it,” Ferguson points at them, “you are the kind of couple that makes other people barf.”  
      
“Its making me sick.” Alfonzo fakes throwing up.   
     
“Stop it guys.”   
     
Tom can’t help but smile as he eats.

***

Tom finds himself sitting at home later. Marco had to go back to class and as much as he wanted to come along he knew that wasn’t accepted. The long awaited call from Marco was here. “Hello, love~”  
      
“Hey,” Marco doesn’t seem as focused or as flirty as he was earlier. “Star told me what happened and she has something to tell you.”  
     
Oh, that's why. Star steps into the picture, looking guilty. “Tom. I’m really sorry.” She looks sad even, “I was concerned about Marco’s safety and I was drawing from past experiences. And I didn’t think about your feelings. I’m really sorry.”  
     
Star sometimes doesn’t mean it when she says sorry, but he can tell she means it this time. He gives her a small smile, “I forgive you, Star.”   
She smiles soon after he accepts her apology. "We are holding a small party for Marco, we wanted you to come over and celebrate!”  
     
“It's just our family, and I wanted you to be here.” Marco smiles at him from the side, he feels like the human just referred to him as family. He can feel himself warming up at the thought.   
     
“I’ll be right over.” He nods and smiles.  
     
“Great! See you in a bit!” They hang up and he snaps his fingers. Glad he still looks presentable. He's met Marco’s parents before but he feels like it's different now. Theres some music playing in the background and he sees Star dancing. She's always been a crazy dancer, somehow she dances like she knows what she's doing, but at the same time looks like she's just flailing.   
      
“Hey!~” Marco kisses his cheek as he turns away from his friends crazy dancing. “I’m really happy you are here.”  
      
“So am I.”   
     
“Thomas!” Rafael Diaz, Marco’s father, claps him on the back and scooped him up into a hug.   
     
“Just Tom, please.” He wheezes out.   
     
“Oh! Sorry, Tom!” The man puts him down and Angie gives him a small hug next.  
     
“So glad to hear you are dating Marco!” She gives him a very big smile.  
     
“Mom!” Marco sounds embarrassed.   
    
“What, he’s a fine, strong, boy.”  
     
Tom smiles and nods, “Thank you very much, Diaz family.” He's almost surprised that their not more upset he's a boy. Though, Marco’s parents love their son and he loves them. He has a feeling that Marco’s parents love him no matter what. Tom always thought it was weird that humans got so hung up on sex and genders and who liked who.  
     
“Such a gentleman.” Angie smiles, “Can I get you something to eat or drink?”  
     
“I’m fine, thank you.” Tom takes a seat next to Marco. The night is simple and ends with Marco opening up his gifts.   
      
“You said your gift for me was at your place?” Marco smiles at him.   
      
“Yes, mr. and mrs. Diaz, may I steal him away?”   
      
The parental figures look at each other quickly and smile back at them. “Yes, but we want you to be safe, alright?” Rafael winks at them.  
     
Marco is already covering his face. “Oh my god, dad”  
      
“Don’t you worry, Mr. Diaz. I will be very careful with him. After all, why would I harm something so precious?”  
      
“Tom!” Marco pushes at him, he grins and snaps his fingers. “You just couldn’t resist could you?”  
     
He moves around the room slightly, “Nope. I have to keep up my image, dear.” He shuffles through things under his bed. “I did get you a real gift though.”  
      
“You did?” Marco’s excitement can be heard in his voice.   
      
“Mmhm~” He pulls the colorfully wrapped box out from under the bed. The human looks very very excited, plopping down on the bed. “Open it.” Tom lightly drops the box in front of Marco.   
      
“No problem!” His boyfriend rips into the paper and snaps the box open. Marco freezes at the contents. “Are these..”  
      
“Yes, I hear you talk about psychology a lot. I thought you might like these.”  
      
Marco pulls the books out and opens them immediately. “I’m...I’m speechless. Tom, these are expensive, nice, books.” The human flips each page like the books will crumble with each touch. “There's a whole section on parsimony!”  
     
Tom shuffles in closer. “What’s parsimony?” He loves hearing the excitement Marco has in his voice when he talks about his passions.   
     
“Parsimony is about how humans make up a fantasy life and false memories. Usually they have sleep paralysis and hallucinations. Its why people think they see ghosts and aliens and all that. People go to simple answers for things they see and we call it parsimony!”  
     
“I love hearing you talk about your passions, Marco. A fire lights up in your eyes.”   
      
Marco closes the book and smiles at him, “I just..can’t believe you did this. It's so sweet.” 

Tom smiles, “I’m glad you’re happy with them. I hope you get some use out of them.” 

“I will, absolutely.” Marco carefully sets the book down into the box before turning back to him. The human lets out a happy sigh, “I love you.” 

Tom can’t help the smile that comes to his face, “I love you too~”

“Can I have my second gift now?~” Marco bites his bottom lip.

Tom laughs slightly, “Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can give it all on the first date  
> I don't have to exist outside this place  
> And dear know that I can change


End file.
